FTL-Neutrino Group Leaders Resign After Vote of No Confidence

One more point for Albert

The leaders of the experimental group OPERA that announced the faster-than-light neutrinos have stepped down after a vote of no confidence. Ouch.

You probably heard that the anomalous result was likely due to a bad cable connection.

Science reports:

Some collaboration members believe that the results, when first announced at a symposium at CERN on 23 September 2011, should have been presented more clearly as preliminary. They are also unhappy that more experimental checks weren't carried out before the announcement. "Once the seminar was done, OPERA should have undertaken a more extensive campaign of tests before submitting its paper to a journal," says Luca Stanco, leader of a group from the University of Padova in Italy, "including the famous cable test. Technical errors can happen to any collaboration. But we should have been more careful."

Think Robert Bryce will correct his WSJ op-ed? No, I don't either.

Consensus does matter in science. It isn't always right, but it usually is -- enough that you'd lose a lot of money if you continually bet against it.